Contributor I

Should I add ERA 300s to my Sonos set up that already has in ceiling speakers?

13 replies
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I am completing a renovation and have a large open space living room Kitchen and Dining.

I bought the ARC, Sub Gen 3, the Move (to be portable for the outdoor area), the amp and 2 in ceiling speakers.
Because construction took a long time, the ERA 300s are now out, I was wondering whether it would be worth adding them to my set up given I have the in ceiling speakers. The ceiling height is 3M.

The in-ceiling speakers haven’t been installed yet, so I could return the AMP and in-ceiling speakers and get two ERA 300s as an alternative too.

Everything will be installed next week so now I’m worried I’ve chose the wrong set up!

Any help or ideas?

Thanks!!!

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K

KDT

Lyricist I

Do you have the system I referenced? I do, there is zero perceivable delay.

As for the grouped stereo speakers playing all channels - yes that is correct. I have those particular speakers set at a lower volume (14 units lower for my use) and I can confirm they do nothing but enhance the overall sound despite playing all channels and there is no loss of overall ‘surround’ experience (quite the opposite in-fact).

If you increase the volume of the grouped speakers so they match the volume of the Arc, do you hear a delay or echo effect?

I was not able to hear a delay even when the speaker volumes were set the same. I only decided to lower them as some sounds were higher in certain movie scenes than what I believed they should be.

buzz

Grand Maestro

If rear speakers are “Bonded” as surrounds, they will be synchronized with the front speakers and become a single surround Room. If the ceiling speakers or ERA 300’s are simply installed as a separate “Room”, there will be a time skew between TV sound and output from any “Grouped” Rooms. The Grouped Rooms receive stereo sound, not surround sound. When playing music, all members of a Group are time aligned.

Some listeners are very sensitive to any time skews, other listeners are not. Consider yourself very fortunate if you are not overly sensitive to time skews. The time skew police spend enormous effort complaining about this or that, rather than enjoying. Some time skews are built into the production by sloppy producers or content delivery platforms, others are due to the physics of sound propagation in the listening area.

K

KDT

Lyricist I

If rear speakers are “Bonded” as surrounds, they will be synchronized with the front speakers and become a single surround Room. If the ceiling speakers or ERA 300’s are simply installed as a separate “Room”, there will be a time skew between TV sound and output from any “Grouped” Rooms. The Grouped Rooms receive stereo sound, not surround sound. When playing music, all members of a Group are time aligned.

Some listeners are very sensitive to any time skews, other listeners are not. Consider yourself very fortunate if you are not overly sensitive to time skews. The time skew police spend enormous effort complaining about this or that, rather than enjoying. Some time skews are built into the production by sloppy producers or content delivery platforms, others are due to the physics of sound propagation in the listening area.

That’s a fair assessment. If I could hear an echo I would turn off the stereo pair immediately. To me, it sounds better with them on.

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